


i get a feeling that i should've been home yesterday

by professorrjlupin



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Pining, Pre-Relationship, Taylor Swift Refrences, Will POV, Will plays the guitar, pining!will solace, thats it thats the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27339955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professorrjlupin/pseuds/professorrjlupin
Summary: Nico's entrance to camp is coincidentally where Will likes to play his guitar at night.Inspired by a tumblr post made by svllyjvckson.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 142





	i get a feeling that i should've been home yesterday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Roryshipsit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roryshipsit/gifts).



> this fic is dedicated to svllyjvckson on tumblr! thank you so much for your lovely comments!!! i hope you enjoy this love

There’s a small forest outside Camp Half-Blood. It’s supposed to be off limits to campers, and normally Will follows the rules, but this is something he’s willing to break. He’s been in camp long enough, and he knows this particular area like the back of his hand. It’s always just him, the trees, and his guitar. 

Sure, he’s not particularly good at the guitar. Nor singing, nor anything too musical. But in this area of the forest, he can play alone, without worrying if any of his siblings would overhear and try to give him pointers. He plays old country songs and makes up riffs as he goes. It’s a nice reprieve after long days in the loud, clustered infirmary. Will can finally be alone. 

He tries to replicate a new song he heard on the radio in the infirmary today. He doesn’t know most of the words, but the melody is stuck in his head. He plucks out chords and listens to them reverberate through the trees. The leaves rustle in response to his ameature music. There's probably dryads around here somewhere, that must be the noise he’s hearing. Will continues to play along to the sounds of the forest, singing a few notes until he comes up with the song. 

“Hey.” 

Will almost drops the guitar. Standing a few yards away, leaning against the tree, is Nico di Angelo. 

Nico winces. “Sorry for scaring you.” 

Heat climbs up to Will’s ears. “How long have you been there?” 

Nico shrugs. “I heard a little bit. You sound good.” 

Will ducks his head. He feels the familiar embarrassment climbing to his ears. “Oh, thank you.” 

Nico takes a single step closer. “I’m sorry for intruding,” he says, voice small. “This is how I usually come to camp.” 

“Through… the forest?” 

Nico seems to finally realize how strange his entrance is. “Yes?” 

Will stares up at him, his long-time crush of eight months, still going strong. Even now, in the middle an October night when Will preferred to stay alone, he found his eyes stuck to the boy who appeared in the shadows. Nico di Angelo, a boy who only came to camp a few days out of the month but always managed to make Will’s heart skip a beat, was only a few yards away. For the first time, they were alone. 

“Come,” Will said, patting the space next to him. He offered Nico a smile. Nico looked uncertain, like no one had ever given him this command before. “I don’t bite.” 

Tentatively, Nico approached and sat, crossed legged, a foot away. A bit too far for Will’s taste, but he thought this alone might be pushing it. 

“Where did you come from?” Will asked. 

Nico tugged at the grass. “I had to run some errands. For Hades.” 

“Hm. What kind?” 

Nico looked up timidly. “What song were you playing?” Will knew he was dodging the question, but he didn’t care. Anytime with Nico was a good time. 

“Oh, just a song. I was trying to play something I heard on the radio today by ear.” Will gave a strum for show, but then realized he sounded like such a prick. Or was he overthinking it? He gave another smile. Now  _ that  _ was overdoing it. 

Nico shrugged. If Will was acting weird, he didn’t notice. “It sounded good.” 

Will was able to relax. “Thanks.” 

“You can continue playing, if you want.” 

Will paused. “You want me to play?” 

Nico returned to pulling the grass, this time with more concentration. “Yeah.” 

“But I’m terrible.” 

“No you’re not.” 

“For an Apollo kid,  _ yeah,  _ I  _ am.”  _ Will’s voice was riddled with cracks where his siblings had vibrato. His fingers were too slow for the guitar he was holding, which is why he played every song seventy five percent of the normal speed. He wouldn’t say he was shit, but playing in front of Nico di Angelo would definitely short-wire the little bit of talent he had. 

“You sounded good before,” Nico mumbled. A bit of a blush creeped up his collar, barely noticeable to someone who wasn’t ogling like Will was. In an instant, Nico stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets. It was barely cold, but his aviator jacket was wrapped around him like a shell, and Will knew he had done something wrong. 

“Wait-” Will stuttered, but Nico was already on the move. Will stood, dropping his guitar with a clang. “Don’t go.” 

Nico halted without turning back. At least he wasn’t moving away anymore. Will searched through every file in his brain for something to say to this very cute boy who was very upset at him. 

“I can play Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Will began, swallowing all his pride. “Also Riptide, but anyone can play Riptide.” Nico turned his head back, looking at Will with something of skeptical interest. Will sat back down and placed the guitar in his lap. Once again, he patted the space beside him with more fear than before. Not fear of Nico- Will could see right through that death aura everyone seemed so afraid of. More like fear of how he could ruin this situation. 

Nico took his time sitting down. His hands were still stuck in his pockets, like he wanted to stick his arms straight through. His face was stuck in a fiercely neutral expression as he stared straight at a dead leaf next to his foot. It was one of the strangest situations Will had ever encountered. And he was a son of Apollo. 

“Okay, well, this is one of the only songs I know I can play really well because it’s only four chords. I hope you like it, but I’ll have you know that my voice is shit.” Nico was silent. He probably regretted saying anything, but now they were stuck together, like they were stuck in a time warp and needed to complete this task before moving on. “Well, here goes nothing.” And he began to play. 

Will focused on the opening riff instead of Nico’s eyes on him as he sang. Once he arrived at the chorus, which was the easiest part, he was able to take his eyes off his fretboard and noticed Nico looking at him. That shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it still made him mess up the strumming pattern. Will smiled at him as he sang the silly song about a state he’s never been to. Nico smiled back, and sent a flurry of butterflies attacking Will’s stomach. (Such a small smile- it was better described as  _ not a frown _ \- shouldn’t have made him feel this way, but this boy could do very strange things to Will, and he hasn’t figured out quite why just yet.) 

He finished the song with a slap against the fretboard and looked over at Nico, who still held that same expression. “You’re good,” Nico said. 

“I’m nothing compared to my siblings. You should hear them play.” It then occurred to Will that Nico probably had, seeing as the musically gifted Apollo children never shut up. It took immense willpower to not slap himself in the face. 

“I like how you play.” 

Will smiled as heat rose up to his ears, a fierce blush attacking every part of his body. He suddenly became aware that he had no clue what to do with his hands, so he played a G chord on the guitar. He then realised how pretentious that made him look, and actually did smack himself in the face this time. Will is not a very eloquent guy. 

“Thanks,” Will said after a very painful thirty seconds of silence. “It’s getting late, I’ll walk you back to your cabin.” 

“That’s okay-” 

“We’re literally walking in the same direction, Nico. Let me walk you to your cabin.” 

Nico shrugged. “Alright.” 

Will stood and gave Nico his hand, but he refused and stood by himself. They walked in silence until they reached cabin thirteen and nodded a goodbye. For such a tense experience, it was a surprise Will left smiling. 

  
  
  


Nico left camp sometime the next afternoon. Will saw him at breakfast and lunch, but when he finally got the courage to ask him to sit together at the campfire, Nico was gone. He waited around for the next two weeks, sitting in the forest long past curfew in case Nico wanted to make a guest appearance, but it never came. Only when Will let his guard down did he finally come back. 

Will was trying to perfect an older Taylor Swift song. Stop judging him- Will was raised on her first country albums, and it didn’t help that he imagined every love song to be directed at Nico. He knows it’s sappy, and he loves it. If he can’t write his own songs about it, he’ll sing Taylor’s. He was stumbling through the riffs from “Love Story” when he heard the leaves crunch a couple of feet away. 

Will abruptly stopped singing and regretted his choice of song immediately. Of  _ course  _ the one day he chose to sing a love song was the day Nico arrived to camp.  _ Of course.  _ But he put that all aside- looking embarrassed would only raise suspicions. 

“Hey, Nico,” Will said before Nico appeared behind a tree. 

“How did you know it was me?” 

“It was either you or a dryad, and dryads don’t wear boots that sound like they could crush a skull with every step.” Nico furrowed his brow, obviously confused, and Will felt a rise of guilt that made his smile fall. “I’m teasing. I like your boots.” 

“Thanks,” Nico mumbled. How did Will always know how to do the wrong thing? 

“Come, sit with me,” Will offered. Nico, to Will’s gladness, complied. 

“What song were you playing?” Nico asked. 

“Oh, just, uh- just some old Taylor Swift,” Will fumbled. It wasn’t a lie. 

“I thought so.” 

“Oh?” 

Nico shrugged, not elaborating, as he picked on the grass. Will stared up at the stars.  _ What do you want me to  _ do? he asked the gods. 

“You sounded good,” Nico eventually spoke. “You sounded happy.” 

How long had Nico been listening? “My mom used to play Taylor Swift a lot. It’s like a comfort.” 

Nico nodded. “What other songs can you do?” 

Will paused. Did Nico want to actually listen to him? “Oh, uh- mostly country. And a lot of Taylor Swift. My mom’s a country singer, so I know a lot of those kinds of songs.” Will cut himself off with a nod before he could ramble anymore. 

“Cool,” Nico said. He was a man of few words. 

“Where did you come from this time?” Will tilted his head, giving Nico his full attention. It only made him look down. 

“Nowhere.” 

“You spent two weeks at nowhere? Sounds exciting.” 

“Just a quick quest, it was no big deal.” 

Will wondered how powerful Nico must be, or what kind of connections he had, to be sent on random quests like this. It made his heart pang with guilt. 

“Are you going to stay for a bit?” Will asked. “I was looking for you last time. You left without saying a word.” 

Nico looked up from picking the grass, his face masked with something of fear. Will didn’t want to make him afraid. “I had to do something.” 

“You can stay here, you know. We’d love to have you.” 

Nico scoffed. “No you wouldn’t.” 

“Well,  _ I  _ would.” 

“You barely know me.” 

“We could change that.”    
  
Maybe Will was going too far. Maybe he shouldn’t be pressuring the kid who walked around with a Stygian iron sword concealed in mist all the time. But, as mentioned before: Nico did crazy things to Will’s head. He made him act braver than he knew he should. He just hoped it wasn’t too much. 

Nico looked like a deer caught in the headlights before he composed himself, straightening his posture and pressing his lips together. “I don’t think so.” 

Something fell inside Will’s gut. “Why not?” 

“I’m busy.” 

“Too busy for a friend? Nico, you’re always welcome to drop by-” 

Nico stood. Deja vu slapped Will across the face. 

“Nico-” 

He let the shadows dissolve him. 

  
  
  


Will kept replaying the moment in his head, scrutinizing every frame for the exact second he went too far. He watched it before bed, during meals, mending bones in the infirmary. Every dull moment, he let his eyes glaze over and asked the gods  _ what did I do wrong?  _

Maybe this was a sign for him to let Nico go. Maybe Nico didn’t want any friends (or any friends like Will- that thought sent knives through his heart), or being with him was dangerous (Will refused to buy into the fears that Nico di Angelo, in his five foot six glory, was supposed to be feared). Either way, Will couldn’t shake the feeling that he lost something great. 

Until it came back. 

It was close to a month after Nico’s last arrival. Fall was slowly morphing into winter, and despite the camp’s magical insulating border, Will knew this was one of his last guitar nights before it became too cold. So he decided to make it count. 

He played his mother’s songs. Will never played them often because these songs were all that he could hear back home, but whenever he did it filled in the hole inside him being a demigod tended to make. His mother sang a lot of country, but his favorite song was a sickeningly sweet love song she wrote about his dad when they first met. Sure, the backstory was weird, but critics agreed that it was her best work. So Will let his fingers dance across the guitar, ignoring every sour note, and sang into the darkness. (He might have dedicated the song to Nico, but he never needed to know that.) 

Nico appeared around the bend during the final chorus. Will noticed and stopped immediately. He might have been seeing things, because Nico looked a bit disappointed. 

“Hey,” Nico said. 

“Hey, Nico,” Will answered. Gods, he hoped this wasn’t going to be weird. He wanted to forget about what happened last time, start fresh, but he had a bitter feeling that it wasn’t going to be that easy. Nico approached and sat next to Will- a good sign. No, a great sign. Nico wasn’t mad. The bitter feeling began to melt. 

“What were you playing?” Nico asked. It seemed to be their script now. 

“One of my mom’s songs,” Will said as nonchalantly as possible, ignoring the blood rushing to his ears. Nico tilted his head in confusion. 

“Oh. That’s cool.” 

“Yep. Didn’t inherit a thing from her, though, as you probably guessed.” Will strummed his guitar for emphasis. 

Nico soured. “Don’t say that.” 

Will fought the blush creeping up his skin. (He lost.) “Oh, you don’t have to say that-” 

Nico shrugged. “I like listening to you play.” 

Will smiled, then laughed. “Thanks. You’re sweet, Nico.” 

Nico blinked, then turned his head so his face was hidden. “I’m sorry for before.” 

“You’re okay,” Will replied. Nico nodded, still not showing his face. “You’re always free to drop by the infirmary if you’d like.” 

“Okay.” 

“Great.” Will couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.  _ That wasn’t a no!  _

“Hey, Will?” 

“Yep?” 

“Can you play that country roads song again?” Nico’s voice shook as he spoke. Something was wrong.

Will knew he could easily ruin this moment just like he had before, but he had to try. “Is everything alright, Nico?” 

Nico shrugged. “I like that song, okay?” 

“Rough day?” 

Nico chuckled without any humor. “Yeah, you could say that.” 

Will patted Nico on the shoulder. First, the contact surprised him, but Will felt him sink into it. Nico dragged a hand across his face. “Real rough day,” he mumbled. “And I like that song.” 

“That’s okay.” Will picked his guitar back up. “Anything for you, my love.” 

He didn’t miss the small smile on Nico’s face as he went into the opening riff. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading yall! keep up with my writing at proffessorrjlupin.tumblr.com


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